But given more time to think about it, he said he would probably be at the Ramsey Route 17 train station, like he is every morning, on March 1. On that day, the cost of a monthly NJ Transit rail pass will increase from $260 to $283.

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The hike is due to an agreement between NJ Transit and the Metropolitan Authority's Metro-North Railroad to keep fares at NJ Transit station fares lower than those at Metro-North stations. But when Metro-North fares increase, NJ Transit prices increase as well.

Joan Mettler, a Ramsey resident who rides to Hoboken every Monday and Tuesday to take care of her grandson, criticized the increase, and NJ Transit's response to Hurricane Sandy. The agency has been faulted for leaving 300 train cars in a rail yard that flooded.

"They wasted our money, and now they want more money," Mettler said.

But Mettler said she wouldn't drive either. She just wishes NJ Transit had posted more notice of the fare increase at the train station.

For Suffern resident Christine Lawrence, the increase is "annoying," but not unaffordable.

"At least it's not $40 or something like that," she said. "It's right under the threshhold of 'Oh, this isn't so terrible.'"

Chuck Gilbert, a Suffern resident, pointed out that the $23-a-month increase is the equivalent of paying for an extra month of commuting every year.

"I'm fortunately in a situation where it doesn't affect me that much because I can afford it," he said. "But I'm sure it's really quite a struggle for a lot of people."

And for Gilbert, who rides to Hoboken and takes a ferry to lower Manhattan, the train is still the best way to get to work.

"I don't think I really have much of a choice," he said. "It's still probably the fastest way to get to lower Manhattan. If I take a bus I'm at the mercy of the Lincoln Tunnel."